January 6 Investigation: Donald Trump Gets Target Letter

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Former United States president Donald Trump has received a target letter in connection with an ongoing federal investigation into the rioting that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

A target letter is a correspondence from a prosecutorial agency identifying the recipient as “a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant.” 

“On Sunday night, while I was with my family … HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” Trump wrote in a statement posted to his Truth Social platform.

According to Trump, “deranged” special prosecutor Jack Smith of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to his attorneys “stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th grand jury investigation.”

The letter purportedly gave Trump “a very short four days to report to the grand jury, which almost always means an arrest and indictment.”

Trump slammed the inquiry as a “witch hunt all about election interference and a complete and total political weaponization of law enforcement” perpetrated by the administration of Joe Biden.

Here is his statement …

Trump has already been impeached for his alleged role in the January 6 rioting – and acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

“A mob of insurrectionists violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in order to halt the peaceful transfer of power,” U.S. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries tweeted. “The American people deserve to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

It is unclear what potential charges Trump might face in connection with the January 6 rioting, however some have suggested he participated in the “attempted corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding” in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 1512 or engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the government in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 371.

Smith has already indicted Trump in connection with his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Prior to that, Trump was indicted by New York district attorney Alvin Bragg on charges related to payouts to multiple mistresses during the 2016 presidential campaign.

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In addition to potential charges tied to the pending January 6 investigation, Trump is also facing a criminal investigation in Georgia over allegations related to the 2020 election.

Neither of the two initial indictments against Trump did anything to dampen his support amongst the GOP electorate. If anything, Trump has solidified his positioning amongst Republican voters. According to the latest aggregate poling data from RealClearPolitics, the former president is backed by 53.7 percent of GOP primary voters – putting him well ahead of his nearest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis (20.2 percent). At the time of his first indictment, Trump led DeSantis by less than half that margin.

As for his positioning in a general election, Biden narrowly leads Trump by 0.4 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate data.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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